Tim Redigolo

Chris Heaton-Harris held his Daventry seat on a night that saw the Conservatives lose an overall majority in the Commons following Theresa May’s decision to call a snap election.

Mr Heaton-Harris was declared as Daventry MP shortly before 4am with 35,464 votes in a 74.09 per cent turnout.

“I’m very pleased and I’d like to thank the people of Daventry for putting their trust in me again.

“It’s quite humbling to receive anyone’s vote and to get 35000 is quite something.

After the surprising exit poll the atmosphere at the Daventry count was a little tentative as candidates from the constituency refused to speculate at great length on its prediction.

“Obviously there’s a bigger national picture going on that I genuinely don’t quite understand,” said Mr Heaton-Harris after his victory was declared.

“It’s very difficult to comment on the national situation but I’ve had an enjoyable campaign. “I’ve got to know the candidates, we’ve all got on and I’d like to think everyone has had a positive campaign.”

He added: “Uncertainty is always bad, in politics and in business.

“At a stage in the country’s trajectory to its future where we voted for Brexit and this election was to get a better Brexit for the country, we’re now in an interesting place.

“We will have to deal with the uncertainty but we will get by.”

Labour’s Aiden Ramsey, relaxed and dressed informally in comparison with his peers, joked early on that he might have to inform his boss that come Monday morning, he might have a different job.

He ended the night in place second with 13730 votes, an increase on 2015 in both the amount of votes and the share of votes.

“I’m really happy with the result. We knew going into this that it would be a hard seat.

“We managed to gain 400 votes and increase our share from 18 to about 25 per cent so it’s a success.

“I’m not going to stop fighting for the people of Daventry, you’re not going to get rid of my loud mouth just yet.

Mr Ramsey said that the increased vote share showed that people in the constituency recognised the work Labour did in the community.

“We’ve definitely seen more engagement with younger voters, the support has been there and i’d like to think being a younger candidate myself , it gives people more aspirations and feels like they have more of a vote.”

Mr Ramsey arrived at the count early, along with Green Party candidate Jamie Wildman, who saw the exit poll as yet another example of the unpredictability of politics in Britain in recent years.

Mr Wildman’s party came last with 957 votes.

The Liberal Democrats increased the amount of votes they received, from 2352 in 2015 to 4015 in this year’s election.

Speaking prior to the result Andrew Simpson’s aim as the Lib Dems’ candidate in Daventry was primarily to get a better result than 2015, and he was pleased that it transpired.

UKIP’s numbers fell drastically by more than 6500, as their voters turned to the other options on the ballot paper.

Given the increase in Labour’s numbers it’s difficult to pinpoint whether 2015 UKIP voters opted to back Mr Heaton-Harris or Mr Ramsey.

What was clear was the amicable nature of this year’s campaign. In their respective post-declaration speeches, all the candidate courteously acknowledged their peers and all spoke positively of one another.

Given the direction in which tonight’s election wa heading, they may be reacquainted sooner rather than later should the electorate be returning to their polling stations in the coming months.